VIRGIN Blue has attacked plans by Qantas to lock frequent flyer customers into a specific credit card, warning travellers "not to be duped out of flexibility and freedom of choice". The airline has launched an advertising campaigned called “Refuse if you want to choose” following what it says is Qantas’ plans to force millions of credit card holders to lock in the Qantas Frequent Flyer option on their card loyalty program.

Virgin Blue Chief Executive Brett Godfrey said that customers should not be coerced into locking in to only one program. “We believe reward programs should be transparent, competitive and earn the choice of consumers, not force people into choosing them,” he said. “With this latest move to dupe frequent flyers into locking into Qantas only, once they have members tied up with direct earn cards, they will no longer have the incentive to keep improving their offering and members will have no choice but to cop it sweet.

“Consumers should be circumspect and not be pressured to sign away their freedom to choose. That’s not loyalty, that’s trickery. We say refuse to choose which means you can reap the rewards of competition.”  Qantas customers have until the end of this month to decide what to do with their frequent flyer reward cards. From March 31, Qantas customers will no longer be able to transfer the points they earn on most credit cards to their Qantas Frequent Flyer account.

The change is designed to force customers to switch to a handful of co-branded "direct earn" credit cards. Annual fees on these cards range from $59 to $290 and all have interest rates near 20 per cent. Cards like Amex Ascent, Westpac Altitude and ANZ Rewards Visa will no longer be included.

If these cardholders want to use their points for Qantas Frequent Flyer seats, they must roll them over to the Qantas program by the March 31 deadline. Qantas Executive General Manager of Group Loyalty Programs Simon Hickey said that the company’s frequent flyer program remained value for money.

"Our campaign is all about giving members direct access to Australia’s most popular loyalty program. We know that Qantas frequent flyer provides the most value of any frequent flyer program," he said. "We thank Virgin for the free publicity."